Reactions to a Sacrifice
by callosum
Summary: With 4 people on board who know what happened to Zoro on Thriller Bark, it's not a surprise the whole crew soon finds out. The crew's reactions. Now up: Chapter 5, Nami. Warning: light Zoro/Nami in chapter 5.
1. Sanji

**Reactions to a Sacrifice**

**Spoilers: **You should be familiar with the events of Thriller Bark.

**Disclaimers:** Standard ones apply: I don't own One Piece, etc.

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**Chapter 1: Sanji**

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"Oi, Zoro. What're you doing in my kitchen?"

"Shut up, ero-cook. I'm just getting a bottle of sake and I'm outta here."

Zoro reached out a hand to open the fridge, but Sanji's leg shot out past him and kept it shut.

"Oi," Zoro growled. "You're in the way."

"Did Chopper say you could have alcohol?"

"Don't remember." Which basically meant yes.

"He told me to watch your diet and cook especially nutritious meals for you. Not that you deserve so much consideration."

"So? Sake's good for you."

"In what way, stupid marimo?"

"You pour it on wounds to clean them, right? So, it's good for your body."

Sanji sighed. "You're a damn idiot, you know that? Listen, much as it pains me to be NICE to you, you're following Chopper's prescriptions. No sake. That's final."

Zoro turned away with an annoyed growl. "Fine," he rasped. "But you owe me one."

"Speaking of which..." Sanji began. Zoro half-turned, and his eyes widened in surprise as Sanji landed a kick in his side. He coughed, and stumbled, but he caught himself and his eyes narrowed at Sanji.

"What the hell was that for?"

"You owed me one. For Thriller Bark." Zoro remembered how he'd hit Sanji in the side with the hilt of his sword, preventing him from making himself the sacrifice.

"I'll let you get away with that, since you managed to hit the one spot on my body that wasn't already injured."

"You should be getting a helluva lot more than that, idiot swordsman." Sanji's voice took on a hard edge.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Zoro scowled back.

"What you did on Thriller Bark...was damn stupid, you know?"

"What did I do that you didn't offer to do yourself?"

"I was trying to save you from your own stupidity!"

"By doing the exact same thing? Nice thinking, shitty cook."

Sanji flushed. "At least I did think, unlike you, moss-for-brains. About the consequences of my actions."

Zoro's eyes took on an even more hooded, menacing aspect. "All right. How much do you know?"

Sanji paused, then admitted, "Everything."

Zoro's frown deepened still further. "You won't tell Luffy."

"If you wanted it kept a secret, you should've thought first before letting yourself get into such a mess."

Zoro reached out and grabbed Sanji's collar. "You're not telling anybody," he repeated. "If anyone else comes to me asking about it, I'll kill them, and you too."

"As if you could in your current condition, shitty swordsman."

That was more than enough of a spark, and they were immediately at each other's throats. To Zoro's surprise, Sanji's kicks were faster and more powerful than ever before...but he soon realised that that was nothing to do with Sanji. Zoro's weakened condition was altering his perception.

_Damn_, he thought. _Shitty cook's right...I am weak. This is all wrong...I'm the one who's supposed to be kicking his ass! I really need to train. _ But he wasn't one to concede defeat. He lunged forward desperately. Sanji's eyes widened, and he tried to pull back a kick he'd been aiming at Zoro's uninjured thigh, but it came into contact with Zoro's chest instead. Zoro choked, and he tasted blood in his mouth. He instinctively knew his wounds were ripping back open. Sanji immediately stopped, a concerned expression on his face, and Zoro turned away to hide the stain spreading across his shirt.

"You should see Chopper about that," Sanji said, a tad nervously.

"I don't need to go running to Chopper over every little cut."

"That's no cut, that's one of your old wounds opening up. It needs re-bandaging."

"How much is Chopper paying you to be a nag?" Zoro was already heading for the door.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Training," Zoro said shortly.

"What? But you're injured!"

"So?"

_Stupid suicidal swordsman!_ Sanji cursed mentally. He leapt into the air and jammed the door closed before Zoro could reach the knob.

"Trying to see how annoying you can get before I get rid of you for good?" Zoro asked sardonically.

"You're seeing Chopper, whether you like it or not." And before Zoro could even launch an attack, Sanji yelled, "Chopper!"

"You - you cheat!" Zoro raged, but he already knew Sanji had won. Within seconds they heard the reindeer's squeaky footfall and Sanji opened the door to let him in.

"What is it, Sanji?" Chopper began, but then he saw the wounds. "Aaaaaaaaaaaugh! Zoro! You're hurt! Again!"

"I'm fine, Chopper," Zoro said, but his voice had a tired, defeated ring to it.

"Did you two fight? Zoro, I told you to rest! And Sanji, how dare you attack Zoro while he's still recovering?"

"Sorry, Chopper," Sanji said, leaning against the counter and lighting up a cigarette. "But this marimo-head started it."

"All I wanted was a bottle of sake, shitty cook!"

"Zoro, no sake until you're recovered."

"What! But, Chopper!"

"No buts! You know you got really drunk after we _kanpai_-ed the other day...which means that your liver was damaged more than we thought! Now, come to the clinic, I'll change your bandages."

With one last murderous glare at Sanji, Zoro left.

"Sorry, Chopper," Sanji said again, "but he wouldn't listen to me."

"Zoro's stubborn, isn't he?" Chopper said sadly.

"When it comes to me, yeah. You might have more luck with him."

"I'll see what I can do."

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**Author's Note**: This was inspired by a fic called "Our Choices" by drakyrna at [drakyrna . livejournal . com / 8392. html ], which focuses on Sanji's immediate reaction upon seeing Zoro injured at Thriller Bark. I decided to write a fic looking at the whole crew's reactions. Reviews are welcome.**  
**


	2. Chopper

**Reactions to a Sacrifice**

**

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Spoilers: **You should be familiar with the events of Thriller Bark.

**Disclaimers:** Standard ones apply: I don't own One Piece, etc.

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**Chapter 2: Chopper**

When Chopper reached the clinic a few minutes later, he found Zoro waiting for him on the examining table, looking unusually apologetic.

"Sorry about that, Chopper."

"It's all right. Take off your shirt." Chopper began trotting around Zoro in a circle, unwinding the bandages. "You opened up a couple of wounds," Chopper observed. "Does it hurt?"

"Nope. That salve you made helped a lot. You're a great doctor, Chopper."

"_Baka_! As if you could flatter me like that!" the tiny doctor said, bright eyes and wagging tail totally giving him away. But then he turned serious. "Actually, Zoro, I wanted to talk to you about something else."

"Hmm?"

"I heard the story from Sanji," Chopper began tentatively, as he cleaned the wounds.

"Story? What story?"

"About how you got hurt by the shichibukai."

"That damn liar cook. He wasn't supposed to tell anybody!"

"I needed to know so I could treat you. These injuries...they were kinda peculiar."

"Oh. Well, can't be helped, I guess."

There was a brief silence as Chopper wound the bandages around Zoro once more. Then Chopper asked, "Can you lie down on your front? I need to tie this knot."

Zoro obeyed, and Chopper hopped on his back and made the bandage fast.

"All done?"

"Just one thing left to do."

The reindeer suddenly transformed into Heavy Point. Zoro gasped under the added weight. "Chopper! At least warn me before you trans-...ow!" Zoro choked out as Chopper grabbed his arms, pulled them behind him and arching his back painfully. "Chopper! What did I do?"

"Do you know how hard it is to treat wounds like the ones you always seem to be collecting?"

"Er - no, but you're a brilliant doctor, so..."

"You can't flatter me like that," Chopper said again, but this time he was serious. "Listen to me. If you get wounds as serious as those again, I won't be able to do anything. Because you'll be dead!"

"Don't underestimate me, Chopper. I know my own body better than anyone. I can take this much."

"Yeah, you took it this time. What I'm saying is that next time, you can't! It wasn't just flesh wounds this time, Zoro...your internal organs were damaged, remember?"

"So...I have to get stronger? Okay then, if you'll just let me go, Chopper, I'll go train – ow! Chopper! I thought that doctors weren't supposed to go around inflicting pain on their patients!"

"There's bad pain, and then there's good pain," Chopper said grimly.

"And this is supposed to be good pain?"

"If it teaches you a lesson!"

"What am I supposed to be learning?"

"That your body isn't built to take so much abuse, so you should be more careful in future!"

"Okay, okay, I got it! Leggo!"

The pressure released, Zoro dropped back onto the table, panting. He heard squeaks in front of him, and looked up wearily to see Chopper back in his normal form.

"Zoro..."

"Don't hurt me again," Zoro pleaded. He sat up on the operating table, straightening out the cricks in his back from the reindeer's "treatment".

Chopper jumped onto his lap, and looked up at him through shining eyes.

"Zoro..."

"What is it?"

"Although as a doctor I was angry, I still think...I still think...back then, with the shichibukai...you were so cool!" The reindeer flung his hooves around Zoro's torso as far as he could reach. It wasn't much of a hug, but it was the best he could do. At least he was back in his tiny reindeer form, so Zoro could imagine he was an overly energetic stuffed toy. He wouldn't have taken too kindly to being hugged by the hairy human-form Chopper.

"Eh, it was nothing," Zoro said. "You would've done the same."

"You really think so?" Chopper looked up at him through happy tears.

"Yeah. You're our nakama. Nakama fight for each other."

"Yeah! Someday...someday...I'll die for everyone's sake! Like a true man!"

"Nah, you don't have to do that. Just do your best."

"Yeah! I'll work hard! I'll do my part!"

"That's great, Chopper." Zoro patted the eager young reindeer on his hat. "And, as a true man, you know to keep secrets, don't you?"

"Uh huh! I'll keep any secret I'm given!"

"Okay, then you won't tell anyone about what happened between me and the cyborg, right?"

"Yeah! I won't! Doctor-patient confidentiality!"

"Great! Then I'm free to go, right, Chopper?"

"Eh? Where're you going?"

"To train. Like you told me, I gotta get stronger."

"Oh no you don't!" Chopper transformed into Heavy Point again and trapped Zoro before he could get to the door. "You weren't listening at all! Looks like you need another dose of good pain, Zoro!"

"No, I don't - aaaaaaaaaaargh!"

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**Author's Note:** Thanks to everyone who reviewed the Sanji chapter! I feel really under pressure now to live up to your expectations! :-)

I thought I'd do some "DVD extras" and comment a bit on why I choose each reaction for each crew member. I feel that Chopper has a bit of a split personality - even more so than Usopp. He wears two hats (not literally!) - as the ship's doctor, and as the cute "little brother" who yearns to be a man, and therefore his reactions are different depending on which way he's thinking. The whole "back-breaking" thing is of course stolen from a funny scene in the anime, Episode 311 to be precise (I don't think it's in the manga). Zoro's pretty fond of Chopper and lets him get away with a lot more than the rest of the crew - I don't think anyone else who tried to attack Zoro would get away with it so easily, even if Zoro _is_ injured.

How do **you** think Chopper would have reacted? Leave a review and let me know!

**Next up:** Robin


	3. Robin

**Reactions to a Sacrifice**

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**Spoilers: **You should be familiar with the events of Thriller Bark.

**Disclaimers:** Standard ones apply: I don't own One Piece, etc.

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**Chapter 3: Robin**

Zoro stumbled out of the clinic and sank down in his usual position on the deck. He wanted to train, but the encounter with Chopper had left him with absolutely no desire to move for a couple of hours. Perhaps a nap would be best after all...he was asleep within seconds.

"Zoro-san."

Zoro opened one bleary eye to see Robin standing in front of him, two mugs of warm sake in her hands. He frowned, one eyebrow forming a puzzled arch. It wasn't common for them to talk – neither were the kind to initiate conversation, and he could count on one hand the number of times she'd addressed him as "Zoro-san" rather than "Swordsman-san".

"Yeah?"

"Mind if I join you?" she asked, offering him a mug.

"You managed to get around Curly Cook and Chopper?"

"Cook-san lets me take anything I want. I'm pretty handy in the kitchen, you know."

Zoro grinned and accepted the sake with a word of thanks, as Robin made herself comfortable on the deck next to him. Zoro took a sip and frowned at the mug. "Tastes weird."

Robin suppressed a smile. He was such a forthright man. "Chopper gave me a herb to put in the sake to aid your body's digestion of the alcohol," she explained.

"Huh, he had something like that? Should've given it to me earlier, would've saved us all a load of trouble."

They gazed up at the sky, sipping in contemplative silence, which Robin finally broke. "How are your injuries?"

"They're healing," he said shortly. He'd had enough of inquiries after his health.

"Even the new ones from Cook-san?"

Zoro turned his head to glance at her. "How much did you see?"

"The whole thing. Although I already knew about what happened with the shichibukai."

Damn this woman - and her Devil's Fruit ability! Of the crew, she was the one who unsettled him the most. Part of the reason was that she was the only one whose abilities he hadn't been able to formulate a good defence against. Not that he went around contemplating how to kill his crewmates. And she was definitely one of his nakama now, no matter how much he'd distrusted her at first. But it was his habit as a professional swordsman to judge everyone he met critically, noting their fighting strengths and weaknesses. So far all he'd been able to come up with against her was that he could throw her into the sea and have her drown - hardly a tactic that suited his idea of swordsman's honour. He vaguely wondered whether it was possible to have a sword made out of seastone.

"Well, that damn cook hardly got a scratch on me," he growled, taking another swig.

"He's worried about you."

Zoro was about to say something sarcastic, but realised it was wasted on Robin. The woman knew too damned much about him already. "Yeah, I know," he said grudgingly.

Then it occurred to him.

If she'd heard everything, she should've heard him swear that he'd kill the next person who came to him asking about what had happened. The woman had balls, he admitted to himself. _Franky's balls_, his mind added, unbidden, and he nearly choked on his sake.

"Are you all right, Zoro-san? Perhaps Doctor-san is right, you shouldn't be drinking alcohol yet."

"No, I'm fine," Zoro gasped, trying desperately not to replay the incident in his head, and failing miserably. Finally he pushed it resolutely from his mind, and said, "Well, did you want to talk about it? You didn't come here just to drink sake with me."

"I didn't think you would want to talk about it."

"No, I don't."

"But I thought a man who could do that much deserved his sake."

"Thanks. But you know, anyone in the crew would have done the same thing. Hell, you once decided to sacrifice yourself for our sakes."

"No, you can't compare that to this. My motivations at the time were impure. I _wanted_ to die. But you...your will to live, your sense of purpose, are remarkable, and yet you were willing to throw it all away."

Zoro's voice was gruff as he hesitantly replied, "What makes you think my motives were any less selfish?"

Robin looked at the normally taciturn swordsman in surprise, but Zoro's expression was hidden by the mug as he downed the rest of his sake in one gulp. So she said the only thing she could think of: "Thank you."

"Don't."

"Don't?"

"Don't thank me. You would've done the same, if you'd been given the chance. Sanji too. Everyone. It was really...nothing special."

There was more she could have said. She could have asked how it was that a loner like him – like her – had come to be so emotionally invested in this crew and captain that he would rather give up his life and dreams than see them die. But she had felt the same spell work its magic on her ever since she had come on board the Going Merry. She had felt the spell grow as they ate together, adventured together, fought together, laughed together. It was Luffy's spell, she knew. She had seen enough pirate crews to know the captain's personality was the ship's personality. Zoro was right, any of them would have done the same for Luffy if they'd been in his position. What was special wasn't his offering his head to Bartholomew Kuma, but his having survived the ordeal. _That_ was what no one else could have done.

She looked at her companion, who was studying the bottom of his empty mug, and held out a hand to take it from him. "Very well, I won't say thank you. But I will say this – I feel honoured to be counted as one of your nakama, Zoro-san."

"Likewise," said Zoro, and he meant it.

Robin smiled one of her rare full smiles and rose gracefully to her feet.

"In any case, you'll keep it a secret, won't you?" He knew he didn't really need to ask, though. She was by far the most discreet person on the ship.

Robin nodded. "I seem to be keeping quite a few secrets for you recently, don't I?" she said, her smile relapsing into her usual enigmatic one.

"Secret_s_?" A blush tinged Zoro's cheeks as he recalled exactly which secret of his she'd been preserving.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about that time, either. Although..."

"Although?"

"Just how long do you think you can keep all these secrets from Nami-san?"

The blush deepened still further, and Zoro began, "What the hell...", but she was already heading towards the cabin, leaving the memory of that enigmatic smile imprinted in his mind.

Zoro got to his feet. Now that he'd had a drink, he felt revived. And there was only one solution to blushing he knew of. Perhaps it was a good time to train after all...

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**Author's note:** This was a pretty difficult chapter to write, and I rewrote it several times. It may be a bit on the boring side, but I don't see Robin and Zoro having anything other than a quiet conversation about what happened, if that. Robin's a calm and mature person and I think she would accept that Zoro's choice was his to make and wouldn't give him any grief about it. Since she, too, once tried to sacrifice herself for the crew before, I thought it would be interesting to have her comment on the differences between their situations and motivations.

As for the last bit in this chapter...yep, I'm a Zoro/Nami fan, and I like to think Robin is one too! Sorry about that, to readers who don't like the pairing - I know there are some of you out there. Those of you who have read my one-shot _Worth more than 50 beli_ will know that I used the same trope about the Water 7 baby-carrying incident secret there too. Sorry, I'll try to be more original next time :-)

Reviews of any kind are very much appreciated.


	4. Franky & Usopp

**Reactions to a Sacrifice**

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**Spoilers: **You should be familiar with the events of Thriller Bark.

**Disclaimers:** Standard ones apply: I don't own One Piece, etc.

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**Chapter 4: Franky & Usopp  
**

Zoro slung a towel over his shoulder and looked up in surprise as Usopp joined him in the men's quarters. "Usopp? What's the matter?"

Usopp looked around furtively and crept over to Zoro. He put his mouth by Zoro's ear and hissed, "Ssh! Come with me, Zoro."

"Usopp, there's no one else in here. You don't have to sneak around and whisper."

"Ah, all right then," Usopp said in his normal voice. "In any case, come with me, we have something to show you."

"'We'?" Zoro followed him down to the lowest deck of the ship, where Usopp and Franky's workrooms were located.

"In here." They entered Franky's grandly-titled "Weapons Development Room". Franky jumped up when he saw them.

"Ah, you got him! Super!"

"So? What was it you wanted to show me?" Zoro asked. "Make it quick, I've gotta train."

"Well...we've just finished our masterpiece! It's now ready for you!"

"Masterpiece? Like a new weapon?" Zoro asked, interested.

"No! A song-and-dance performance, celebrating the hero of the ship! Starring Captain Usopp and Cyborg Franky!"

"Ehhhhhhhh?"

Usopp cleared his throat, nodded to Franky, and began to sing in a reedy voice, to what was obviously the tune of "Binks' Sake":

"Here he is, First Mate Zoro,  
The great swordsman and hero  
Of the age, he's worth a page  
On history's grand stage..."

Franky was performing what was evidently an interpretive dance, mimicking Zoro's Oni Giri move, his ridiculous pants wiggling before Zoro's bulging eyes.

"He faced a shichibukai,  
Nor was he afraid to die,  
He was brave, he almost gave  
His head for Luffy's..."

"Isn't this stuff supposed to rhyme?" Zoro muttered, as Franky mimed removing his head and swapping it with Usopp's. But Usopp and Franky were pressing on, ignoring the dangerous twitching of Zoro's eyebrows:

"The great brute took Luffy's pain,  
Forced it into Zoro's brain,  
But Zoro, the great hero,  
Took it without complain...ing!"

Franky was writhing in agony, tears pouring down his cheeks, but he wiped them away in time for the chorus, as Usopp and Franky linked arms and sang:

"Yo ho ho ho, he's a hero!  
Yo ho ho ho, what a hero!  
Yo ho ho ho, he's our Zoro!  
Yo ho ho ho, SUPA herowwwwwwwww!"

"Enough of that nonsense," Zoro scowled, as they nursed their heads.

"You're mean, Zoro-kun," Usopp mumbled. He had the worse of it, seeing as Franky's head was steel-plated. "If you wanted us to go slower, you should've said so."

"Why would I have wanted you to go slower? To prolong the agony?"

"Zoro, I know you're not the sharpest knife in the drawer, so it's okay if you're slow at memorising the words..."

Zoro's retort was interrupted by Franky. "Hey, Usopp-bro, didn't you write down the words before? If you give 'em to Zoro, he can follow along better."

"Oh, right! I'll be right back, Zoro, don't go away!" Usopp scurried off to the room next door.

"What the hell..." Zoro began, but Franky interrupted.

"Listen, bro, you are _not_ going to disappoint Usopp by knocking his song." He pushed up his sunglasses and glared at Zoro.

Zoro stared back at the cyborg, genuinely astonished. Franky was almost twice his age, but what with the cyborg's ridiculous antics – not to mention those pants – that was easy to forget. Except when Franky chose to be serious, which wasn't often. Unless the fall-out from his and Sanji's fights included a fresh injury to the Thousand Sunny, which, on reflection, happened pretty often.

"All he wants is to show his gratitude and respect for what you did," Franky continued.

"He doesn't have to make a song-and-dance about it."

"It's not your way, but it's _his_ way, okay? And you can't really blame him for fawning over you, after all you did back at Thriller Bark."

"I didn't do it so I would be fawned over," Zoro muttered defensively.

"It's just his own way of expressing his feelings. He really looks up to you. You're his hero."

"Me? What makes you think that?"

Franky guffawed. "Long-nose likes putting your quotes in his tales." He put on Usopp's deep Zoro-mimicking voice. "'If I die, I'll only have reached this level.'"

"I'm sure he gets inspiration from all sorts of places." There was Usopp's most recent fairytale for Chopper, for example. It was about Prince Usoppun, the brave knight who single-handedly saved Princess Kayappina from an evil pirate named Kuroppeko by pelting him with human-sized garden vegetables. Zoro was pretty sure he knew where the inspiration for _that_ had come from.

Franky shook his head. "You've gotta understand Usopp's thinking. You may be only the second-strongest fighter on this ship, but you got there through your own hard work. You didn't eat a Devil's Fruit, you didn't do any body mods, you're a 'normal' man – well, I'm not too sure about that."

Zoro shot Franky a glare, but the cyborg continued, unfazed: "You don't know how much that means to Usopp, that someone normal can become so strong. It gives him hope, that one day he can sing about great deeds he's done with his own hands, not stuff he's made up for himself. That he can stand equal with you and all the other monsters in this crew."

"It's not like he's not already equal," Zoro objected. "He does stuff on this ship no one else can. He shoots better than any of us, he faced up to that pink witch with the Negative Ghosts, he made that weapon for Nami, and it's saved her life more than once..."

"Then tell that to him. One day. But not today."

"Why not today?"

"Because he's determined that today belongs to you."

Zoro sighed. _The things I do for this crew_. "Okay, I'll play along. But I'm _not _gonna sing that song."

"Don't worry, he won't find the words." Franky's eyes twinkled just a little as he handed over a sheet of paper covered in Usopp's neat handwriting. "Just...hum or something."

"Twenty freakin' verses?" Zoro's eyes narrowed as he saw the level of detail the song went into in later verses. "How did you guys find out about all this anyway?"

"Overheard a couple of guys from the Thriller Bark Victims' Association talking about it, and we made them tell us everything." Franky dropped his sunglasses down over his eyes once more, an unspoken signal that they had company. Zoro hurriedly stuffed the offending sheet of paper into his haramaki.

Usopp dashed in again, looking hot and bothered. "Sorry, Zoro, I can't find my lyrics sheet! But I'll write them out for you again, I promise!"

"That's okay." Zoro took a deep breath, knowing he'd regret this. "Why don't you just sing it again?"

"_Yosh_! Okay, all together now, once more, from the top!" Usopp declared.

"Let's do it with a DON!" Franky agreed.

Zoro left half an hour later with "Yo ho ho, he's our Zoro" ringing in his ears and a promise from Usopp to expand the song into a true epic, beginning with Zoro's earliest childhood when he'd apparently grabbed three forks and fought off a gorgon that attacked him in his cradle. The only saving grace was that Usopp had promised to get Brook to compose an original tune for his masterpiece, and never to perform the song before anyone but them three. Sighing over the waste of good training time, Zoro made his way up to the crow's nest. Time to train at last.

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**Author's note:** Well, as you can tell from the delay, I struggled quite a bit with this chapter. It originally had Usopp & Franky just singing the song and Zoro getting mad, but I felt it didn't really go into Usopp's thinking enough. Then I expanded it into one where Usopp blows up at Zoro much in the way he blew up at Luffy, thinking that he's not worthy to be in the crew, etc, and Zoro having to persuade him that he belonged. I kinda liked the Zoro-Usopp interaction in that version because Zoro was really upset (in his own way) when Usopp left the crew, and I think he appreciates Usopp's abilities quite a lot, but the manga never shows him actually telling Usopp that. But the chapter was rather melodramatic and didn't fit into the rest of the fic, so I compromised between those two versions and had Franky stop Zoro before he got too pissed off. And you know he would be royally pissed off, because having to listen to a song like this would really be torture for him! Poor Zoro, the things I put you through.

I was pretty worried about Franky being OOC here, because I don't really feel like I've a good handle on him, especially his interactions with Zoro. Plus he's usually portrayed in a comic way and I've done the opposite here. But I think he's serious often enough (and he is 34 after all) so hopefully you won't find this chapter too bad! Anyway, I decided to just post what I had, rather than never continue on with this fic. Let me know what you think, and maybe I can make this better.

Oh, and, the song's lyrics aren't that great, but then I don't think Sogeking's song rhymes very well either :-) Out of curiosity, what do you think Usopp's handwriting would be like? For some reason my first instinct was to make it a scrawl, but then I thought that since he's a good artist his handwriting would actually be rather pretty (if it makes sense that those two correlate).

Phew, only two chapters left! There won't be a Brook chapter, by the way, because Brook tells Zoro that he knows about Thriller Bark in the manga.

**Next up: Nami**


	5. Nami

**Reactions to a Sacrifice**

**Spoilers: **You should be familiar with the events of Thriller Bark.

**Disclaimers:** Standard ones apply: I don't own One Piece, etc.

* * *

**Chapter 5: Nami**

Zoro was even more focused than usual, Nami thought, watching as he grunted his way through his fiftieth set of thumb-stand push-ups, a huge set of weights balanced on his feet. He'd barely even looked around when she came in, and since then seemed to have forgotten her presence entirely. Finally she decided enough was enough. "Zoro."

"What is it, woman?" Zoro huffed between push-ups.

"Chopper told you to take it easy, didn't he?"

He took a moment's pause to look up at her, then returned to doing his push-ups at the usual pace. "Yeah. And I am. I'm doing half as much as I usually do."

"I think he meant for you to _rest_." Her voice was getting that familiar dangerous edge, but Zoro ignored it.

"Nope. He said I had to train up," he said confidently.

"I'm sure he didn't say that!"

"Sure he did. Go ask him."

"I _did _ask him. He said to stop training and get some rest."

Zoro let the weights down and flipped himself into a cross-legged sitting position. "Okay, fine, I'll do some curls instead. All right?"

"ZORO."

"Can't a man get some peace around here?...Gaaah! Not the earrings!" He stumbled to his feet, following the clearly pissed-off navigator.

Brook's violin and lower jaw dropped as he watched the swordsman get led by the ear past him to the girls' room.

"Ano, Usopp-san..." he ventured. "Is Zoro-san getting kidnapped by Nami-san?"

"Nah," Usopp said, his tongue sticking out of his mouth as he scratched out new lyrics for his new Ode to Zoro. "Nami getting pissed off with Zoro happens pretty regularly."

"Ah, is that so." Brook looked pensively at the closed door of the girls' quarters. "Maybe he's going to ask to see Nami-san's underwear...Yo ho ho ho!"

**...**

Nami shut the door behind them and dragged Zoro over to a chair. "Sit," she ordered.

"Why do I have to take orders from you?" Zoro grumbled, but he sat. He knew what was coming, and he wasn't looking forward to it. Somehow, she knew too. He could tell by the murderous look in her eyes. Zoro sighed. "Let me guess, you heard it from that shitty love-cook."

"Yes, Sanji-kun filled me in."

"I knew he couldn't be trusted to keep his damn trap shut," Zoro grumbled.

"You can blame yourself for picking a fight with him in the kitchen just now. I swore not to eat any of his meals until he told me why you were fighting." Nami sounded a touch triumphant at the success of her ruse. But not too triumphant. She knew as well as anyone that Sanji was always an easy one to manipulate.

Zoro raised an eyebrow. "You mean we need a reason?"

"Whatever. Anyway, that made him surrender immediately. And don't think you can get away by changing the subject!" She rapped him smartly on the head.

"What was the subject again?"

"The unbelievably idiotic thing you did at Thriller Bark."

Was she mad at him? Zoro wasn't the most perceptive of men by any means, but something seemed different about Nami's anger today.

"What's there to say about it?" he shrugged. "It happened. It's in the past. Everyone's all right now, and that's all that matters."

"Everyone's _not_ all right. You're still badly injured. And now everyone has to deal with the shock of knowing what you did – those who know, anyway." Her voice was trembling ever so slightly.

Zoro frowned. "Shock? Robin was calm enough. Chopper's over it by now. Usopp and Franky even made up some damn stupid song about it. Shitty Cook was pretty mad before, but he's calmed down now. Luffy doesn't know – at least I hope he doesn't."

"And who does that leave?"

"Er – Brook? I dunno about him."

"IDIOT!" Her punch this time was enough to send him crashing to the floor.

"Ugh." _Kuina, when you said that girls don't grow up as strong as guys...well, you were dead wrong._ Nami was partly right, his injuries were still bothering him, but no way was he going to let her have the satisfaction of actual evidence. He picked himself up as quickly as he could. "Oi. You didn't have to..." He stopped short.

Nami had turned away from him, and was sobbing into her hands. He stared at her blankly. He had no idea what to do, no idea why she was crying, he just knew that he didn't like it. "Oi, Nami. Get a hold of yourself."

"Shut up, you great oaf. I don't know why I bother worrying about you," she said between sobs.

"Oh, you meant _you_! Why the hell didn't you just say so?"

She lifted her head from her hands to look at him, and his heart sank. He would rather she punch him a thousand times in the head than see her like this.

"Did you stop even once to consider our feelings? Do you know how the rest of us would have felt, if you'd died?" Her shoulders were shaking with suppressed anger, but her voice held an unmistakable note of sorrow.

Zoro looked at her like he'd never even heard of the concept of "feelings" before.

"Do you know what it's like, having someone sacrifice themselves for you?"

"Um..."

"The sheer grief of losing them...the guilt at having been the cause...the despair...of knowing nothing you do will ever change what happened." There was a telltale break in Nami's voice. The raw hurt from losing Bellemere-san had never quite faded, even after Arlong's defeat.

"At least you'd have been alive to feel that way."

"I don't want to feel that way! When I think how close we came...what I would've felt if we'd woken up and you were gone...just like that, without even saying goodbye..."

"You were all unconscious, it wouldn't have changed anything if I had said goodbye," Zoro pointed out, quite reasonably, he felt.

"That's not the point! You're our First Mate! You're like the main mast of this ship! Do you know how this ship would fall apart if you weren't here?"

"Luffy'd hold it together. He's the captain," Zoro said confidently.

"Don't you know how important you are...to the crew?"

"Everyone's equally important. Even you."

He knew he was in trouble when she didn't rise to the bait. He hadn't seen her this depressed for a long time.

"Yeah, Luffy's captain, not you. You don't get to make decisions like whether you'll leave the ship or not, whether you'll surrender yourself to the authorities or not. That's up to the captain. Instead, you took matters into your own hands."

"I had to, or Luffy would've been taken instead," Zoro said, quietly this time. "He's our captain all right, but I'm First Mate. When he's in no position to make decisions, it's my responsibility."

Zoro was usually dense enough when it came to feelings, but somehow he could read the battle between her sadness and her anger easily. The pendulum was swinging the other way now, her lower lip was trembling, and the tears were flowing again. She slumped to her knees, as Zoro watched helplessly, not knowing what he could say to make her feel better.

"Why do you always do that?" she asked.

"Do what?"

"Why are you always the one getting hurt for our sakes? Every battle we go through, it's always you who winds up in Chopper's care for days afterwards."

"Actually, Luffy's the one who..."

"Luffy is a Devil's Fruit user. He's a rubberman! He always bounces back like he wasn't injured at all! But you...you're absurdly strong, but you're still human. You take too much on your own shoulders...more than a person should have to bear."

"I don't really mind."

She looked up at him and screamed, "Then start minding!"

A tense silence followed, punctuated by broken sobs. Zoro sighed, and sat down next to her on the floor. "Sorry," he mumbled.

"Huh?"

"Sorry. Just...just stop crying, okay?"

His mind flashed back to when they were sailing away from Cocoyashi Island, and the four men on board had had a secret conference.

"That old pinwheel guy, he made me promise, and it's a promise the whole crew has to keep, okay?" Luffy was saying, in one of his rare serious moods. "If we ever take away Nami's smile, he'll come kick our asses. So we gotta keep her smiling, we can't ever make her cry, got it?"

"Of course, Captain! I'll never do anything to hurt Nami-san!" Sanji had said immediately.

Usopp just sighed and said, "Yeah, yeah."

Luffy'd turned to his First Mate. "I don't get it," Zoro had said. "Why do girls cry all the time anyway?"

"You stupid marimo-head! How dare you insult girls like that!"

The meeting had dissolved into a fight between Zoro and Sanji, but Zoro had been forced to promise in the end. "Fine, fine, I'll not make her cry. Okay?"

And now he'd broken his word.

"Listen...I won't do stuff like that anymore..." he found himself saying awkwardly.

The sobs gradually died down. "Promise?"

"Yeah, I promise. If I can help it, I mean."

"And...you'll never leave..."

"No, I won't leave the crew. Not without saying goodbye, that's for sure."

"That's a promise too?"

"I promise."

He got to his feet and offered his hand to her, grinning when she actually took it. He lifted her to her feet easily, took the towel from around his neck and dabbed at the remnants of her tears, wiping away the last evidence of his broken promise.

Nami marvelled at how gentle his callused hands were.

For three seconds.

Until she noticed how damp the towel was.

She opened her eyes.

Her eyes met his.

He knew he was dead.

"What's that?"

"This? Er...a towel. It's not that sweaty! I was only halfway through..." he trailed off.

_So dead. _

"Never, ever, do that again!" Her punch sent him crashing through the door and into the parapet outside. The door immediately slammed shut again. Zoro groaned and rubbed his head, staring confusedly at the closed door in front of him.

It opened up once more and she added, "And don't even consider doing any more of your damn exercises before Chopper gives you the go-ahead. Understand?"

"Yes ma'am," he groaned obediently.

She slammed the door closed once more. Then she saw the towel on the floor, and bent down to pick it up. She was about to open the door once more and hurl it out to join him, but then the smell came to her again. A smell of steel, sweat, and...something indefinably, familiarly Zoro. From the very first time she'd met him...every time he'd pushed her aside and shielded her from harm...always, this smell had come. It was a smell that carried a promise, of safety in the midst of danger. If the smell of her tangerines meant home, then Zoro's smell meant sanctuary. Nami smiled, almost regretting hitting him. It wasn't such a bad smell after all.

* * *

**Author's note:** Um, that came out fluffier than I expected. Oops. *Runs and hides Chopper-style, waiting for the flames*

Oops, in my haste to hide, I forgot to say some stuff. First of all, thank you for all the reviews so far! I really appreciate them. Again, I thought I'd say a bit about my motivations for writing the chapter this way. I imagined that Nami wouldn't take too kindly to having another person die on her for much the same motivations that Bellemere had. And when it comes to emotional stuff, she's a bit of a crier, so there would be an emotional scene that Zoro would be completely incompetent to handle. Because for him, tears would be a weapon worse than any sword, especially when it means him breaking a promise to boot. So, hopefully not too out-of-character then?

**Next up: **Luffy (gulp!)


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